Register any new born babies (or their parents) within the District at the Bement Public Library.  Registered parents will receive a “Welcome to the World” gift and can request special services designed just for them: for instance, we could bring a new parent something fun to watch while they're up with the baby all night or a delivery of books to make an older sibling feel special.  We want to help the family build a connection with us and with the community and just make things a little easier. We are willing to come and bring you things that you need and schedule a return pickup... just to save you that time out of your day, getting your baby in and out of a car, in and out of a stroller, especially with COVID.  We know things get crazy and you are exhausted. We encourage you to sign up any expecting parents in your neighborhood or your parish.  We want to help. 

Explore More Illinois is a free service provided by your library that provides instant online access to free and discounted tickets to museums, science centers, sporting events, zoos, park districts, theatres, and other fun and local cultural venues. Log in with your library card credentials and browse for passes by date or attractions.  (Use your library card number as your ID and the last 4 digits of that number as your PIN). 

We occasionally get the privilege of assisting others with research. One such recent project was helping with the University of Illinois Sewn In Memory Project.   Sewn in Memory: AIDS Quilt Panels from Central Illinois is a new exhibit at the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures and features over a dozen quilt panels originally made in the 1980s and early 1990s for the AIDS Memorial Quilt, in Washington, DC. Each of these panels commemorates a person who died of AIDS, or of an AIDS-related ailment. Illinois Public Media, the Department of Journalism at the University of Illinois and students from the College of Media at Illinois worked together in the fall of 2021 to create video vignettes on the lives and legacies of these individuals. 

Our library assisted with research for the video honoring local farmers